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Habitat Sweet Habitat

Three siblings talk about where a group of imaginary animals would find food, water, and shelter in their backyard, in this video from PLUM LANDING. They make drawings of the imaginary animals, scout out ideal habitats for them in the backyard, and create posters highlighting the habitat and how it meets each animal’s needs.

Warm-up: [Note: If you have already completed the “Viewing the Video” discussion in Teaching Tips, skip ahead to Part A of the main activity] Have a short discussion about habitats in the context of students’ own homes. Ask students about the kinds of things their homes provide for them: food to eat, water for drinking and bathing, shelter from the weather, and a place to sleep. Then, introduce the term habitat. Can anyone define the term? What might a habitat look like? A habitat is the place where an organism lives. It provides food, water, shelter, and space for sleeping, resting, and raising young.

Ask students if they can think of any habitats around your school. Give students prompts if necessary, such as: What are some animals you see every day? Where do they find food, sleep, and raise their babies? Talk about how a robin uses its habitat to meet its needs. It might use grass or leaves to build a nest in a tree, drink water from a birdbath, and hunt for worms in gardens or lawns.

Part A: Creating Creatures

1. Head outdoors, taking Creature Cards (cut out from the handout) and the rest of the materials with you. Students also should take their field notebooks and pencils.

2. Have students pair up, hand out one card per pair of students, and have them draw what they think their creature might look like, based on the card’s description.

3. While they are doing this, copy the text below on the flipchart or posterboard:

How the creature

finds food

uses its habitat for shelter

finds water

interacts with other creatures

Part B: Habitat Hunt When students have finished drawing, explain that they should now find a place that looks like an ideal habitat for their creature, based on the information on the flipchart. They should:

1. Come up with a fun name that describes a real living or nonliving part of their habitat, such as Asphalt Alley, Ranger’s Ridge, or Crickety Thicket.

2. Make a poster, using construction paper and craft supplies, for visitors to their habitat. The poster should show what’s special about the habitat and the creature that lives there. They should include:

The name of the habitat;

A drawing of the animal in the habitat, showing it either finding food or seeking shelter.

Tell students they may draw several examples of the creature in its habitat. For example, they might draw one creature eating and another sleeping in its shelter. They also may draw other real animals, such as ants or birds, that they notice in the habitat. When students are done, have them tape their posters to craft sticks and place them in the ground in the habitat. (Students may need to tape several craft sticks together in a cross shape to support the poster.)

If time permits, you can repeat the activity, but this time have students create their own creatures. If you have your students do this, remind them to consider the factors on the flipchart in describing their creatures’ needs.

(Optional) Part C: Creature Feature Place your students into groups of four by pairing up the pairs. Have each group act out a short play in which they show how their creatures interact with each other, and how they use the different parts of their habitat throughout the day and night. When, where, and how do the different animals search for food? Is one a predator and one prey? They should show how the prey might hide from the predator—and how the predator might sneak up on the prey. They could use their model creatures to act out that interaction. If you have action figures or models of animals or other creatures, have students incorporate these into their plays as well.

Wrap-up Gather the group together and take a guided tour of each pair’s habitat.

Ask:

How does the animal find its food and water? How does it use the habitat for shelter and space?

How do you think your creature might interact with the other creatures?

Before we did this activity, how many different kinds of habitats did you think we would find here? Has your answer changed?

What might be some real animals you would find in your habitat?

(Optional) Now that students have completed the activity, you may choose to return indoors and show them the “Habitat Sweet Habitat” video. Have a short discussion in which you compare your students’ results with the outcomes for the kids in the video. What similarities and differences are there between your setting and the one in the video? What kinds of habitats did the kids in the video find for their creatures? How do these habitats compare with the ones your students described?

As an extension, you may want to try the Explore Some More idea listed in Teaching Tips.

Here are suggested ways to engage students with this video and with explorations related to habitats.

You may want to have students do the activity (see Activity drop-down option below) prior to watching the video. This will allow you to reinforce the concepts raised in the activity and extend your discussion by comparing your students’ results with what they see in the video. If you prefer to watch the video first, or only to watch the video, use the “Viewing the Video” suggestions below.

Viewing the Video: Use the following suggestions to guide students’ viewing of the video.

Before: Have a short discussion about habitats in the context of students’ own homes. Ask students about the kinds of things their homes provide for them: food to eat, water for drinking and bathing, shelter from the weather, and a place to sleep. Then, introduce the term habitat. Can anyone define the term? What might a habitat look like? A habitat is the place where an organism lives. It provides food, water, shelter, and space for sleeping, resting, and raising young.

After: Ask students if they can think of any habitats around your school. Give students prompts if necessary, such as: What are some animals you see every day? Where do they find food, sleep, and raise their babies? Talk about how a robin uses its habitat to meet its needs. It might use grass or leaves to build a nest in a tree, drink water from a birdbath, and hunt for worms in gardens or lawns.

Explore Some More:

Map Your World Brainstorm with students about animals they frequently see in the neighborhood or around the school. Consider the habitat needs of each species. For example, where might a bumblebee find food? Where does it go when it’s raining? Walk around your building or neighborhood and identify different kinds of habitats. These might be open spaces such as sports fields or parking lots; plants such as shrubs, flowers, or grass growing next to your building; or yards with trees or gardens in them. Have students predict what kinds of animals might live in each place. Then have students create and annotate maps of your neighborhood, showing the location of different kinds of habitats and the kinds of plants and animals they might find in each one.

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